Atopic eczema complicated by systemic lupus erythematosus.

We report two patients with atopic eczema (AE), who developed systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Case 1 was a 25-year-old man who developed SLE during treatment of AE in our department. He had a positive antinuclear antibody (ANA) (1:640), anti-ssDNA, anti-SSA and anti-RNP. Case 2 was a 27-year-old man who had a past history of AE. He developed SLE and had a positive ANA (1:320), anti-ssDNA, anti-dsDNA and anti-SSA. Among 33 patients with SLE in our department, four had suffered from AE (12%). There have been a few reports of AE complicated by SLE. Even if it is very rare, like case 1, that two morbid conditions, AE and SLE simultaneously exist in an individual, our findings suggest that it is necessary to measure various autoantibodies in ANA (+) patients with AE and to carefully monitor those patients for long-term development of SLE symptoms if other autoantibodies are positive.